September 19th -20th 2014 HICS REUNION (Part 1)

September 19th started a memorable weekend. A group of Air Force people who had worked together 35 to 40 years ago met for a great time of renewed friendship, reminiscing and updating on ones lives.  The chosen place was Omaha, Nebraska.      

The first leg of the reunion 

(or at least when we joined the group) 

 was a tour through the Strategic AIR & SPACE MUSEUM,  located just West of Omaha on I-80. 

 Below is Jeff Falin, my husband as he waits for the HICS group to arrive.  How about that mean looking face on the aircraft behind him, it looks like it could eat him alive. 

 It was fun to watch this fun group as they reunited with old friends  and maybe even met someone new they had never met while in the Air Force.  

 Some of the faces I recognize are Bill Shaw, Sal Ciulla, Rick French and Harry Miniken.

Above, my husband, Jeff Falin talks to an old buddy, Donald Markiewicz  who was one of the main leaders in this years HICS Reunion. 




Great to meet old freinds Tom Loggins in the blue. 

This Air & Space Museum is a walk through living history.  It houses a huge permanent collection of famous aircraft, missiles and spacecraft. 

DOOLITTLE AIRCRAFT

 These are pictures about the  DOOLITTLE TOKYO RAID.  Very interesting and was pretty much a suicide mission as very few survived this route and mission.  If interested, I would suggest researching this on internet or encyclopedia for more information.

This little XF-85 Parasite was a very small bomber plane that would fit in a large aircraft and drop from the bottom when needed.  It was a great idea but was not used much due to the under pressure and wind from the large plane.  

This little cockpit was designed to eject with the pilots still in it and had all provisions to survive for several days until they could be found and rescued. 

 I thought this large wall flag was very interesting.  It was totally made from individual drawings from hundreds of Nebraska school children.  It was huge and until I got close up, I could not tell it was many individual drawings of Freedom, 9-11, or what America means to them.    Each long stripe is made up of about 75 8" X 10" drawings.  Below picture shows you some closer up pictures.

 This was another exhibit that I thought was very interesting,  It represented the Twin Towers from 9-11.

The many hanging mens ties represented the thousands of casualties from that major terrorist attack

A lot of the air craft from different times had names attached to them, along with pictures..   

The Air & Space Museum also has a large interesting gift shop. Many from Reunion group enjoyed browsing, buying souvenirs such as Hats, mugs, t-shirts, coins and pins. 

As we were at the Air & Space Museum, a lot of the wives enjoyed a tour of a Quilting display.  It sounded very interesting but since I had  chosen the Air & Space museum, I have no photos of the Quilt place.    

August fun when both daughters and children came for visit.

The first part of August, our youngest daughter and  children came to spend  a week with us which overlapped 3 days with our oldest daughter and children spending a week with us.  It was especially sweet to all be together.  

One of the special things we did when our youngest daughter, Melissa was here, was go to her old stomping ground, Reptile gardens where she had worked several summers during high school and college.  It was so much fun to watch her enjoy all the sites and animals that she had enjoyed and worked with previously. 

The old turtle enjoyed a neck rub.

She also very much enjoyed seeing her sister and nieces and nephews. It had been a long time and was a great time for us all.  

 Due to road construction we all had to utilize the front park area and the grass too.

We all enjoyed some back yard fun and games.

 It was a warm day for Main Street Square Fountains. It was a great time to cool off and visit.

This is my oldest granddaughter as we browsed around in a fancy book store just off  Main Street Square. 

 One of the interesting things we did with our oldest daughter and family was pan for "GOLD".  It was fun and we all had a great time.  Not much gold was found.

Yes, she actually found a small nugget of "GOLD"

Jeff and I with our grandchildren. 

 Adventures at Custer State Park.  Our youngest granddaughter was overly excited to see the big herd of Buffalo.

Tunnels and many rocks and formations.

Picnic and Ice Cream before swiming in the Lake while

 Our oldest daughter and the 3 older children
 climbed Harney Peak. 

Hike and hike some more.  It was worth it as the views were breath taking from the top but then they still had 2 hours back down.  They were all exhausted.  

At the top!

Selfie of mom and her 3 oldest children to help them remember the Harney Peak hike. 

A little fun posing with a few of the life size bronze statues on Rapid City's Main and St Joseph street. 

Jeff and the Blue Grass group enjoyed having our grandson join in playing with the jam. I think he enjoyed it also.

We listened and goofed off as they played and had fun.

Then our granddaughter even gave it a try as she has been learning a little on the Mandolin.  Papa was fealing pretty proud to play with his grandchildren. 

Another adventure was a trip to the interesting Hill City.  We enjoyed the Museum and a stroll down the tourist town street. 

We all enjoyed an old fashioned  ice cream treat from the  Route 16 Diner in Hill City.

We certainly enjoyed having our children visit us and the many fun hours spent doing fun things. We thank the Lord for the gift of children and their families.